GCI Streams 2011 Iditarod Race to Subscribers’ PCs with RGB Networks

General Communication, Inc. (GCI) (NASDAQ:GNCMA), Alaska’s largest telecommunications company serving more than 130,000 cable television subscribers throughout the state, will use the TransAct Transcoder from RGB Networks to stream live coverage of the annual Iditarod race to its subscribers’ PCs with the same quality it delivers to TVs. The Iditarod is Alaska’s most popular sporting event and this year’s race begins on Saturday, March 5.

“For us Alaskans, the Iditarod is a weeklong Super Bowl and delivering this year’s race to the TV and PC is a key step in eventually offering a full ‘TV Everywhere’ service with live and on demand programming available for our subscribers on their TVs, PCs and mobile devices,” said Greg Pearce, Vice President and General Manager of GCI’s Business Services. “The impressive transcoding performance of RGB’s TransAct Transcoder gives us what we need for this year’s Iditarod and provides the capabilities and confidence to move to a full three screen offering in the future.”

At its central headend in Anchorage GCI is using RGB’s TransAct to transcode video of the Iditarod in real-time from the MPEG-2 format used by cable networks to the MPEG-4/H.264 format that’s better suited to streaming to PCs over the Internet. GCI is also using the TransAct Transcoder to create multiple individual streams at different screen resolutions and bit rates to accommodate the wide variety of PCs and broadband speeds used by GCI’s subscribers. Finally, GCI takes advantage of TransAct’s advanced packaging capabilities to package the individual streams into the Microsoft Smooth Streaming video delivery application.

“Consumers are increasingly demanding their TV experience be available to them on their PCs and mobile devices and we are working with forward-thinking service providers like GCI to make TV Everywhere a reality,” said Ramin Farassat, RGB Networks’ Vice President of Product Marketing. “Our TransAct product line, along with our carrier-class Video Multiprocessing Gateway (VMG), gives us the industry’s broadest portfolio of multi-screen solutions for delivering TV Everywhere. Our solutions can cost-effectively meet the needs of small service providers and scale to deliver multi-screen services for cable operators with millions of subscribers.”

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual sled dog race across more than 1,000 miles of Alaska and which takes as many as 15 days to complete. The race has been held since 1973 and its popularity has grown beyond Alaska and the U.S., with race teams from foreign nations increasingly joining the competition.

About the TransAct Transcoder

The TransAct Transcoder is an integral component of the RGB Networks TransAct family of products and is specifically designed for the needs of today’s new media environments. The TransAct Transcoder supports on-demand transcoding (ODT), file-to-file and live stream transcoding as a software license or as a 1RU appliance for optimal flexibility in delivering file-based or live content to mobile, Internet TV and IPTV domains.

GCI is the largest telecommunications company in Alaska. GCI’s cable plant, which provides voice, video, and broadband data services, passes 90 percent of Alaska households. GCI operates Alaska’s most extensive terrestrial / subsea fiber optic network which connects not only Anchorage but also Fairbanks and Juneau / Southeast Alaska to the lower 48 states with a diversely routed, protected fiber network. GCI’s satellite network provides communications services to small towns and communities throughout rural Alaska. GCI’s newly constructed statewide mobile wireless network seamlessly links urban and rural Alaska for the first time in the state’s history.

A pioneer in bundled services, GCI is the top provider of voice, data, and video services to Alaska consumers with a 70 percent share of the consumer broadband market. GCI is also the leading provider of communications services to enterprise customers, particularly large enterprise customers with complex data networking needs. More information about GCI can be found at www.gci.com.

About RGB Networks

RGB Networks enables video service providers to migrate to a multi-screen environment for the delivery of linear and on-demand video over managed and unmanaged IP networks. The company’s success is based on core strengths in transcoding, advertising and overlay insertion, ultra-dense modulation and statistical multiplexing. RGB’s solutions for video delivery to TVs, desktop and mobile devices are built to deliver the highest video quality at the best price-performance on the market—they uniquely offer the density and scalability required to support the growing demands of consumers with integrated functionality that simplifies operators’ network architectures and minimizes operational costs. RGB’s products are deployed by over 200 cable, telco, satellite, OTT and mobile operators in 30+ countries. Backed by principal investors Accel Partners, Kleiner Perkins Kaufield and Byers, and Comcast Interactive, RGB is a private, profitable company based in Sunnyvale, California with offices around the world. For more information, please visit www.rgbnetworks.com. # # #